The attack came on the fourth day.
Sand exploded upward.
Creatures made of glass and bone emerged.
Not Guild monsters.
Something else.
Lyra reacted instantly.
Fire shield.
Kael engaged head-on.
Rylan moved like lightning.
The stranger targeted their weak points.
Perfect teamwork.
But these enemies didn't bleed.
They shattered.
Lyra absorbed one attack and instantly understood:
"They're constructs."
The stranger nodded.
"Controlled remotely."
Meaning:
Someone powerful was watching.
They destroyed the attackers.
But found something disturbing.
Inside the shattered remains were fragments of human souls.
Lyra felt sick.
"Who would do this?"
The stranger answered quietly:
"Someone worse than the Guild."
That night…
Lyra felt someone enter her dreams again.
Lyra stood inside a white endless space.
A woman stood before her.
Identical face.
Older expression.
Calmer power.
"Hello Lyra," the woman said.
Lyra stepped back.
"Who are you?"
The answer chilled her.
"I am what you become… if you survive."
Future version?
Spirit form?
Manifest destiny?
"I don't understand."
"You will."
The woman walked around her slowly.
"You are not just powerful."
"You are a balance point."
Lyra frowned.
"For what?"
The answer:
"War between creation and destruction."
Lyra felt cold.
"I never asked for that."
The woman smiled sadly.
"No one chosen ever does."
Before disappearing she said one last thing:
"Trust them. But prepare to lose one."
Lyra woke up shaking.
She didn't know which of the three she might lose.